McGirl 4 - The Fourth Fem Timothy McGee Collection
by phantom-lass
Summary: Welcome to the fourth collection of Girl McGee stories! :) In this collection there will be *drum roll* A Town Called Eureka, When a Stranger Calls and... well, I have to leave somethings for a surprise. Enjoy! x
1. Chapter 1

**McEureka - Part 1**

Paperwork. It made a nice change of pace for a little while after spending a week running from one suspect to the next and nerve racking hours glued to a computer screen waiting for one of her many searches to ping with a result. But change of pace and nice rest aside if Tony hit her with a spit covered ball of paper one more time she would stuff the whole copying machine down his throat and and see how he dealt with that amount of paper.

She heard it. The quick gust of air as the paper ball escaped the straw and then 'splat' as the extra soggy paper pellet landed wetly against her cheek. It even stuck for a moment before gravity did its thing and it fell onto the desk in front of her to replace the full stop on one of the documents she was working from. She looked at it like it was an alien from another planet before shifting her body and flicking offending paper with a fingernail back at her teammate.

Tony didn't even notice, too busy taking aim at Ziva. By the look of barely held tolerance on the other woman's face Tim realized that if she just sat back long enough Ziva would be the one introducing Tony to the copier. Or a paper clip. Tim was still quite fascinated with the idea of death by paper clip…

* * *

Ziva held out longer than Tim thought she would. Three more paper balls had gone flying through the air towards her. Two hitting their marks and one flying of to hit the partition board at her back.

While she had been expecting it - Ziva was quite predicable when it came to her responses to Tony's immaturity - Tim still jumped when Ziva's hands slammed down onto her desk at the same time she pushed her chair back and stood. Braced on her desk she looked ready to pounce over the furniture for Tony's throat.

While Tim jumped Tony very nearly fell out f his chair with fright. Tim couldn't stop the smile. He never learned. Or maybe he was like a little boy pulling a girls pigtails working along the idea that any attention was good attention.

Sadly before Ziva could paper clip Tony, Gibbs came stalking towards his desk - where had be come from? He had been summoned to Vance's office over half an hour ago - and leaned over his computer.

She winced as he hit the keys violently and almost slammed the mouse onto the desk top. It had been sticking on and off for a while and she had been meaning to fix it but with one thing and another a moody Gibbs from a sticky mouse was preferable to the wrath of Gibbs being aimed at you for squandering your time during a case. Hearing the mouse connect again with the desk she was rethinking her decision.

Her boss stood, the wire connecting the mouse to the monitor the only things stopping it from sliding off the edge of the desk as she pushed it away in open disgust.

"Director's office, now,"

Tim quickly saved her files and stood with Tony and Ziva. Honestly the man had then trained better than circus dogs.

They followed him up the steps.

Gibbs looked angry. A usual state of things after being called to the Director's Office. They had all exchanged looked when their boss and strode from the bullpen. The case had gone well. They had got to the bottom of the pharmaceutical smuggling (in what Tim thought was record timing). They hadn't even had to shoot anyone! So he couldn't be getting into trouble for anything… Well…anything to do with this case anyway.

"What you are about to be told is Top Secret,"

They had just signed non-disclosure agreements (the kind that read 'tell anyone and we will KNOW and you will spontaneously combust at our leisure') and the Director was being the most serious Tim had even seen him.

Tim exchanged looks with Ziva and Tony. None of them quite happy when it came to anything labeled 'Top Secret' they all remembered far to well the utter mess of the case involving the 'research' ship, Chimera. It had not sat well with any of them to know that despite not knowing if they were off the ship, it had still been blown out the water. She could still hear the explosion in her head and feel the slight heat of the blast on her skin when she thought of the case.

It wasn't the kid of thing to fill you with confidence.

None of them had been on their best game either when it came to the 'Black Ship'.

Tony was freaking out about rats and plague viruses. Ziva - despite her kick-butt-and-take-names attitude - had been a bit jumpy (Mossad training about open mindedness or not). Tim was sure she had flushed her stomach lining down the toilet thanks to her sea-sickness.

Ducky and Gibbs had been the only ones to keep it together but even they had been a little…off.

* * *

Tim quirked a brow.

Huh. So, surprisingly enough, this case was dealing with a legitimate Top Secret research project.

She was standing to the side, scanning through the files that had been handed to Gibbs by the Director. Gibbs of course had handed them straight to her while he launched into some matcho-crap display with the Director.

She blocked it out. She had listened to it countless times before and knew it rarely shifted. Gibbs was basically letting it be known that he would stand on as many Top Secret toes as necessary to get the job done Tim rolled her eyes as she turned to the next page, when Gibbs got like this he would do everything but pee on the evidence, showing that the case was his and not the Directors.

She scanned the page. Huh, marines were involved in the testing phase. That was were they were involved then. Testing must have gone very bad.

The argument continued in the background.

Blah blah blah. My case, Leon. Blah blah blah. Put another team on the case then. Blah blah blah I don't play nice with others. Blah blah blah unless their spunky red heads then I might think about it. Blah blah blah. And so it went.

Tim froze.

She had just turned over the the last page, the premise for the research was quite fascinating and would be ground breaking if it could be pulled off, when she scanned to the end of the document.

She had to blink and then look again.

That scrawled signature at the bottom of the page. The signature giving the official go-ahead. She recognized it.

Tim looked bellow it and her mouth went dry.

Nathan Stark.

"Are you coming, McGee,"

Tim snapped the file shut and spun, her eyes wide in her head.

The conversation had finished and everyone had left the room, except for Gibb who was standing at the door waiting for her.

"Oh, yes, sorry boss," she shot towards the door and he left seeing her approaching.

A throat clearing behind her had her slowing before she reached the still open door.

"Agent McGee,"

She turned.

"Um, yes sir," she looked at the director who was eying her hands.

"The file," he smiled.

The file?

She looked down, following his gaze and blushed the the tips of her ears.

Oh dear.

Tim nearly tripped over her own feet to get to the desk and return the folder.

"Sorry, Director," she squeaked.

"Quite alright, Agent McGee," she dropped the file on the table and backed away, "A bit over my head I'll admit but fascinating all the same,"

Tim slowly raised her head to meet his eyes. There was a gleam there that told her he was being sincere. She smiled shyly.

"Yes sir, if they are successfu-"

"Today, McGee," Gibbs voice bellowed from outside.

Tim floundered slightly, her mouth opening and closing small noises escaping.

"On you go, Agent McGee," the Director jerked his head towards the door.

"Yes sir, thank you sir,"

"McGee!" snapped Gibbs again.

"Coming boss," she called back, flustered as she dashed from the Directors office, only just remembering to stop and close the door softly behind her.

* * *

 **Hi darlings!**

 **So to give you guys who aren** **'t really diggin' the Batman fic a little something to read I thought I would start the next collection :)**

 **This first installment will be a mash up with A Town Called Eureka. Anyone seen that show? It is great fun. I splurged on the boxset last summer and binge watched a disc a night until I got to the end. Fantastic fun! And I think that our Tim is smart enough to have a passing knowledge of the secret town ;).  
**

 **Anyhoo. I** **'ll stop boring you guys.**

 **I hope you are all staying safe and have a good week ahead :)**

 **Take care. x**


	2. Chapter 2

**McEureka - Part 2**

Hitching a ride on military transportation was never anywhere near the top of Tim's to-do list.

Noisey, uncomfortable and rattly. Within half an hour she always felt like her teeth were going to walk out of her head on their own thanks to the vibrations.

She sighed and looked around the dimmed area at her teammates.

Gibbs - damn him - was fast asleep, Ziva was beginning to nod off and Tony was squinting at a magazine he wouldn't have dared to bring out if Gibbs had been awake. But as Gibbs has some sort of supernatural ability going on she would not put it past him to 'know' what all of them were doing even when he was asleep.

She shuffled further into her seat, allowing the harness to take the weight and tried to wriggle into a comfortable position. She leaned her head back and closed her eyes, thinking back on the day.

* * *

 _Tim rushed after Gibbs, just stopping herself from falling down the stairs and followed him to their desks where Gibbs immediately picked up his phone._

 _She automatically went to her desk, double checked her computer was shut down and shuffled the papers on her desk into a pile and slipped them into the bottom filing drawer. She then pulled her gun from the top drawer, slid it into the holster at her waist and stood, waiting for further instructions._

 _She knew were there were heading and new it would be almost forty hours of driving. Forty hours of driving with Tony in a closed confined space. Could she convince Gibbs to take two cars? What could she use as an excuse? Back-up vehicle? After all, you never know when a car is just going to up and die on you._

" _Right, thanks," Gibbs slammed the phone down._

" _Got us a ride," he announced, rounding the desk and collecting his side arm and bag._

" _Ride, boss?" Tony, his bag over his shoulder stepped away from his desk._

" _Yes, DiNozzo a ride, unless you want to walk to Oregon,"_

" _Uh, no boss,"_

" _Flight leaves in two hours,"_

* * *

 _Tim held her cell between her ear and her shoulder as she used both hands to pack her bag as speedily as possible. She didn_ _'t want to think about what Gibbs would do if any of them didn't show up to the flight._

 _Something not good she was sure._

 _As they didn_ _'t know how long they would be away for, even Gibbs had realized that their back-up work gear just wasn't going to cut it so they had all been sent home to rapidly pack._

" _Hello," a chirpy voice sounded over the line._

" _Hi, Fargo, it's-"_

" _Hello,"_

" _Hello, Fargo-"_

" _Hello, I can't hear you," the voice continued you._

 _She straightened her head and held the phone properly, pausing in her packing._

" _Fargo, it's m-"_

" _Wait a minute,"_

 _There was a small noise. Tiny really. A snicker._

 _And just like that Tim realized what was going on and threw the pair of socks in her hand into her case with a little bit more energy than was strictly needed._

 _She kept quiet as more_ _'hello's and 'speak up's were repeated from what she now knew to be a messaging service._

 _Finally he broke down into giggles, unable to keep up with his own joke._

" _Leave a message after the beep," he chortled, gasping for breath before the beep cut him off._

 _Pinching the bridge of her nose Tim struggled not to snap. The maturity of a ten year old, honestly._

" _You're an ass, Fargo!" OK, so maybe she failed at the whole keeping a rein on it thing, "You are a literal rocket scientist with the certificates to prove it and you have that as your message," she paused, all good principles paused at this point in the lecturing procedure to let the inane actions sink into the offenders brain. She may not be a principle but she was trying to give one very annoyed lecture._

 _She breathed to steady herself._

" _As you are not in your office I will assume you are trying to stop an experiment from running away and destroying the world - again," she spoke dryly._

 _Tim kept in fairy good contact with the genius and the only thing that didn_ _'t make it excellent contact was the constant stream of disasters that plagued Global was true what they said. Highly intelligent people did tend to lack common sense and when you had a town full of off-the-chart-IQs…well…things got complicated quickly._

" _Just calling to let you know I will be paying you a visit along with…oh, you know, the rest of my TEAM" Thanks for the heads up on that one by the way, I am sure that the death of a marines just slipped your mind," or they had been hoping to brush it under the rug. She paused in her rant to take a deep breath. Deep and steady. Sarcasm tended to go over Fargo's head. As did most human reactions come to think of it._

" _We are hitching a ride on a military transport," she zipped her bag shut after throwing her toiletries bag into the top, "so we should be with you by-" she looked at her watch and did some quick counting, "lunch time. See you then," she hung up and sighed._

* * *

An extra vigorous bump of the plane knocked Tim from her thoughts and she opened her eyes to glance about.

Ziva was asleep (and snoring - although she could only just hear it over the sound of the engine), Tony must have dosed off as the magazine was now spread across his face and Gibbs was still in the same position.

She stole a glimpse over at the servicemen who were int here own little huddle at the far end of the plane. She noticed the occasional head look up and towards them.

No doubt wondering what four NCIS agents were doing cramping their style.

Tony was always complaining about why the FBI got a plane and they didn't. Usually she ignored him, after all they very rarely needed one.

The plane bumped again.

But under these circumstances she could see the appeal.

Tim closed her eyes and tried to relax.

* * *

 **Hi everyone.**

 **So, they are on their way to Eureka. Oooo. Who** **'s excited!?;) As most folks (even the kids) in Eureka are all super smart I wouldn't put it past all of them to be able to build a rocket... just saying (as I have no idea if Fargo does have Rocket Scientist Qualifactions or not :))  
**

 **I like writing slightly miffed Tim. :)**

 **I hope you are all having a nice and safe week.**

 **Take care everyone.**

 **x**


	3. Chapter 3

**McEureka - Part 3**

Tim held the phone away from her ear, listing out for the beep to tell her when to talk. If she had to listen to that annoying answering service message one more time she would not be responsible for her actions.

Tim was standing in the shadow of the plane while they waited for their transport to arrive. Like Mordor, one does not simply walk into Global Dynamics.

Beeep.

She brought the phone back to her ear and hissed into the phone in case she was overheard.

"Alright Fargo, this is the fourth call. I don't know what you are melting, blowing up or atomizing but it had better be good," she hung up with a sense of finality. They were all but at the door. She wouldn't get in touch with him now. Not a chance.

She glanced about the empty airstrip that was far too big to belong - logically to such a small town. She found Gibbs - flanked by Tony and Ziva - looking at the closed door of a massive building. And aircraft hanger was her best guess. She knew that this place was equipped to deal with a disaster (with a capital 'd') quickly and efficiently if it was needed.

She looked up at the silent plane they had clambered from some five minutes before. Yip. This place could house quite a few of those if need be.

Tim saw the look of confusion - or as near to it as he got, anyway - on Gibbs' face as well as a small frown on Ziva's. Tony was just being Tony and was spouting of some movie reference. She turned from them so they couldn't see the small smile she couldn't hold back.

* * *

She felt a little sorry for the poor guy behind the wheel of the car as they drove through the winding roads to get to their destination. He was being grilled by Gibb's mercilessly.

"Look, sir, I'm just the driver. You an ask all the question you want once I drop you off,"

Tim couldn't help but roll her eyes at that comment. She knew that no one was 'just' a driver when they were working for Global Dynamics. She wouldn't put it past him to have come to get them in some kind of rocket fuel propelled hybrid. She glanced at the dashboard - as Gibbs had taken the front seat, she had been forced into the dreaded middle seat with Ziva and Tony at either side of her. Nothing about the blinking dials or moving gages on the dash was like a normal car.

* * *

They were driving towards a derelict bridge. The sign making it very clear that to proceed would result in a long drop and possibly an explosion.

"What are you doing?" Gibbs demanded, sounding the most worried Tim had ever heard him.

Ziva and Tony had both tensed at her sides.

She knew what was flashing through their heads. Could they get their belts off and have the doors opened in time to jump before the driver had them over the edge.

Tim looked at their driver. He was smirking as he ignored the panicked shouts and floor it towards the dropoff.

Tim yawned and closed her eyes while her teammates freaked out about her.

Scientists were such drama queens at times.

* * *

They were led into the lobby of the main building, the smug smile still plastered across their 'just the driver's face. She folded her arms over her chest and shook her head at his actions. Alright, so maybe Gibbs was being his usual brash, don't-take-no-for-an-answer self but that had been uncalled for.

She paused in her thinking and lowered her arms, smiling slightly.

Who was she kidding. It was a sure fire way to get someone to stop asking you questions you had no desire - or clearance - to answer.

The lobby was huge, with a high ceiling and hall ways leading off to goodness knew where.

And it was from down one of these same corridors that a familiar figure came walking.

He was short, with dark hair that only seemed to make his young pale face appear all the more sickly in some lights. His eyes -covered with glasses - were too busy studying the pad he was holding to pay any of them any attention until he was almost right in front of them.

"Good day and welcome to Global Dynamic I am Fargo, and you will be," his finger pushed and pulled at the small screen in his hands, "Special Agent Gibbs, Agent David, Agent DiNozzo and Agent McG-" he paused and seemed to do a double take of his pad before finally glancing up at them, his eyes scanning their faces until he found…her.

"Tim,"

She smiled and lifted a hand to wave, trying to ignore the looks the others were giving her. See. This had been what she was trying to avoid by getting in contact with him. If he had only picked up his phone.

"Hey Fargo, long time no see,"

The surprise at her unexpected presence finally cleared from his face and he smiled back.

* * *

They were led through a maze of corridors after Fargo had seen to their security passes and made it clear just what could - and couldn't - be access by them.

"They have a whole department to themselves," he was explaining, although Tim got the feeling that other than Gibbs she was the only one paying him any attention, Ziva and Tony were staring slack jawed about them, "There is a separate entrance for the test volunteers to come and go -"

"Is the entrance monitored?" Gibbs broke in.

Fargo nodded his head.

"Yip, it takes a security card and iris scan to get in,"

* * *

"Why didn't you let me know you were coming?" Fargo mumbled from his spot beside her.

They had reached the testing department and Gibbs was 'oorah'ing with the Marines who had volunteered (or been volunteered) for the testing of the new 'suit'.

"I tried, I left you four messages," she muttered back, trying not to draw any attention from the others, "By the way, your answering message is really irritating,"

Fargo only giggled with delight.

"Yeah…" he chuckled, "I know,"

"So, haven't you had the chance to check you cell, been busy destroying and saving the planet?" she teased softly.

"Um…yeah…well…myphonewasconfiscated,"

"Your what now?" she frowned, catching none of that.

"My cell was confiscated," he spoke grudgingly slower, the tips of his ears burning red with embarrassment, "As well as my Internet privileges," he grumbled darkly.

"Fargo…have you been grounded?" she couldn't keep the grim from her face as she watched him no his head.

"What did you do? It must have been pretty impressive for-"

"I don't want to talk about it," he bit out.

She giggled and held up her hands in surrender as she walked over to join Gibbs when he gestured towards the gathered scientists.

* * *

 **Hi everyone.**

 **I hope you are all having a good/safe weekend. It is Bonfire Night here in the UK so there are still a few fire works being set off.**

 **Anyhoo. Tim is in Eureka and has finally got in touch with Fargo** **…you know…by being right in front of him. :)**

 **Feedback as always is awesome! I am so glad that you are still enjoying these one shots and I really hope you all continue to.**

 **Take care.**

 **:)**


	4. Chapter 4

**McEureka - Part 4**

The scientists remained in their little huddle once Gibbs had finished speaking to them. Their heads together they chattered in an obvious tither, occasionally one of them would lift their heads to looks towards the group of marines, eyes narrowed.

It was a tragic accident. All the numbers had been gone though time and again. They didn't know why it had not worked. But what had possessed the man to try out the 'suit' without supervision. Safety protocols were in place for a reason, to stop anything like this happening.

Tim knew scientists and she knew that despite their words they weren't really all that broken up about the loss of the marine. They were more annoyed about the delays his death was leading to with their research. She could understand their annoyance at the interruptions but still they weren't being too subtle about the whole thing.

Tim stood with Gibbs and the others, joining them when Gibbs had head-jerked her over from her continued conversation with the scientists.

"So, McGee, what is this thing?" Tony was the one to ask, gesturing about the room.

By 'thing' though she assumed he meant the machine that had led to the marine's death…well, maybe device was a better term.

She looked about, the sound of lapping water becoming deafeningly loud in her ears as she imagined being trapped in an almost skin tight confinement as it filled with water and she sank. Unable to do anything about it. Just struggling fruitlessly and waiting for the inevitable. She shivered. She very rarely had to deal with anything water or even ship related despite the 'Naval' in her job title, and she was glad of it.

"Woohoo, McGee," Tony was waving a hand in front of her face, bringing her attention back t the conversation at hand, "Earth to McGee," the hand continued waving until she batted it away impatiently with her own.

"Stop that," she snapped.

"Perhaps you can explain to us in straight line terms, what this machine is. McGee," Ziva spoke calmly, ever the voice of reason.

Straight line terms? Straight forward? Lay-mens? Never mind.

Tim quickly got her thoughts into order.

"According to the paperwork the director had for us to read in his office, and what I have been told just now, it is basically an oxygen suit," yes there was lots of numbers and chemical compounds in the name but when you got down to it that was what it was.

She glanced over to the scientists who had stopped their little panic session and were now concentrating souly on them. Wow. No pressure. She could see several of the group rolling their eyes at her comment but it didn't bother her much. She had been able to tell just from the quick conversation she had with them that they were the sort who enjoyed throwing around complicated jargon to watch the jocks and cheerleaders of the world get confused. Well, she had got everything they had said, thank you very much.

Gibbs quirked a brow at her simplification. .

"A small device that is powered by the natural electricity of your body is attached with a biological glue to just above your heart, your own body then powers what amounts to a force field, that encompasses your whole frame, as flexible and mobile as you yourself are,"

Small crystals that make up the structure of the device then react with the emissions within the 'suit' converting them to oxygen. The size of the device depend on the time you wish to spend under the water. They are working on the size so they don't put too much strain on the system of the test subject. As things stand they have perfected the quarter hour mark,"

There. Tim took a steadying breath. She was sure she had hit all the major points.

"Perfected?" Tony scoffed.

"Well, within reason. They assured me that for the sake of safety no test run had gone past the ten minute mark so far. And the 'suit' itself is designed to leach energy from the wearer so it would last as long as the diver is alive,"

"So what went wrong here then?" Gibbs demanded.

Tim shrugged of his angry tone. After all, why should she be the one having to provide all the answers. They were a team of four for crying out loud. And besides, weren't they here to figure out 'what went wrong'.

Before she could answer in words however she was shocked into silence.

"I am sure you will have the answer to that question in due time," it had been years since she had heard that voice but she would recognize it anywhere and anytime, "I apologies for not being here to welcome you, Global Dynamics will of course cooperate anyway we can to get to the bottom of this tragic incident,"

She forced her eyes away from Gibbs and his frown and looked towards the new arrival, who was looking straight at Gibbs. Had he seen her?

He was as handsome and self assured as she remembered him to be. Ridiculously tall. A mouth that was made for smug, self-satisfied grins, as well as the genuine article. He had a nice smile… The goatee was new though. And damn but it suited him.

"Nathan Stark, Head of Research here at Global Dynamics," Nathan introduced himself, holding out a hand for Gibbs.

Her boss looked down, studying the limb like it would bite him before he reached forward and shook it.

She had a feeling that Gibbs didn't know what to make of this non-Navy guy who had been thrown into his investigation. He couldn't get away with the passive aggressive bull he pulled on 'superiors' when investigating a case.

"Gibbs, NCIS," well, no one could ever accuse the man of being anything but brief, "My team, Agent DiNozzo," he waved at Tony, "David and McGee,"

Tim smiled tremulously when Nathan's eyes landed on her and widened.

"Tim,"

"Hello, Nathan,"

* * *

 **Hello everyone.**

 **I am so sorry for the wait for updates at the moment. All I can say is that it has been one hell of a month with hardly the time to breath never mind write. But tada! Here we go. Written under the influence of one lovely glass of wine :)**

 **I hope you are all well and have a lovely weekend.**

 **Take care**

 **:)**

 **PS - All dodgy sciencing in this chapter is TOTALLY made up by yours truly for the purposes of the story :)**


	5. Chapter 5

**McEureka - Part 5**

"Timothy McGee, you dark horse," Tony was grinning like the cat who got the cream once Nathan Stark had left the room.

"I don't know what you mean," she told him primly, unable to stop herself from nervously tucking a strand of hair behind her ear.

She glanced down at the paperwork in her hand. She had already read through it. But another study of the documents surely wouldn't go amiss.

"Oh please," Tony continued and Tim couldn't help but wonder why Gibbs hadn't slapped him up the back of the head yet, "With that sizzling chemistry," she glanced up in time to see Tony shiver, rubbing imaginary gooseflesh from his arms.

"Tony, they exchanged two words," Ziva noted dryly.

Thank goodness for Ziva

"I'm Italian, I pick up on these things," Tony explained proudly, "Two words is all it takes,"

"Wow, Tony, when did you turn into a teenage girl?" Tim asked, just wishing he would drop the subject.

"Come on Tim! Boss, tell her we need to know. It could affect the investigation," Tony was grasping at straws now, pulling the investigation card. That was crap and he knew it. Tim had lost count of the number of cases the team had worked that involved family or friends of Tony, Gibbs and Ziva and none of them had got the third degree.

"Something you want to share, McGee?" Gibbs leveled her with the look that worked better than ant lie detector.

Oh really. Gibbs was going to look at her like she was the one in the wrong. What the hell was wrong with privacy! She sighed in annoyance knowing that they were going to get their own way eventually.

"I interned under Nath- Dr Stark's research team during my time at college,"

"Mmmhhmmm," Tony hummed suggestively.

"I was offered a place here in Eureka on one of the tech teams,"

"You turned down a shot at the heart of nerd-dom?" Tony asked in shock.

"I knew what I wanted to do," Tim had always known that the research position was more for experience than anything else, NCIS was always her dream, " and being in a computer lab was not it,"

"And Mr-Tall-Dark-and-Brainy?"

"First of all," Tim was getting annoyed now and she lifted a finger, "It is 'Dr' Tall-Dark-and-Brainy, and second," another finger joined the first, "It is none of your business DiNozzo. Boss?" she turned begging eyes on Gibbs who was looking at her like a piece of evidence at a crime scene.

Wow. Disconcerting.

Quick as a shot Gibbs hand connected smartly with the back of Tony's head, as he obviously came to a decision.

"Back to work,"

* * *

They finished up the interviews in peace. Tim running through some sketchy details with the development team and then under Gibbs' instructions talking to the marines to see just how much they understood about the device they were here to try out.

It was painfully obvious that there understanding ran as basic as possible. 'We use it and it works' was as far as it went. It turned out the the dead marine was the brains of the operations.

"He loved this stuff," one of the team waved about the room, "Couldn't get enough of the paperwork. Read up on everything and even understood the language,"

"Language?"

"Yeah. They like their big words here," all the marines looked bashful, embarrassed by their lack of knowledge and Tim felt a swell of anger on their behalf. The developers hadn't even been trying to simplify things for the sailors to understand what was going on.

She stole a quick glance over her shoulder to find the scientists glaring with narrowed eyes towards the marines. Wow, it was like high school all over again.

—

"What do you think, McGee?" Tim looked up in shock.

She had been so busy studying the device that had been removed from the marines body that she hadn't even noticed Gibbs standing over her.

"Oh, hey, boss," she looked back to the small device, no larger than the palm of her hand it was a nearly flat disk, rough to her gloved fingers on one side and with countless fine filaments on the other. She knew the roughness was caused by the grainy chemical substance that caused the reactions and the filaments were what attached to the wearers skin.

She shrugged in answer to his question, turning the disk to and fro in her hand, looking for an obvious fault in the design.

"Can't tell you much without running a test or two. Abby would be better for the job…"

"But you have access to machines she could only dream off," Gibbs added.

She looked up.

"Well…yeah…"

"Think you can find out everything we need?"

"I could try,"

"Do it,"

Alright then.

She was aware of Gibbs eyes on her as she strode over to Fargo who had been standing almost forgotten to the side, gaze fixed on his tablet and finger swiping continually.

"Hey, Fargo,"

"Yip. Yeah. Yes," Tim shook her head as Fargo nearly dropped the tablet in shock finally clutching it guiltily to his chest and looking at her with wide eyes.

"You alright there, Fargo?"

"Yes, sure, course I am," he pushed his glasses up his nose, his gaze flicking away from hers for a split second, a telltale blush burning on his usually pale cheeks.

"Trying to get your phone privileges back, huh?"

"It's torture," he gushed.

"I'm sure it is teaching you a lesson," she mumbled feeling Gibb's 'get-on-with-it' glare burning into her back.

"Don't suppose there's a spare lab around here is there?" she waved her hand clutching the device at him, "Need to do a little bit of testing on this,"

"You?" Fargo chortled at this, nearly chocking.

"What's wrong with me doing the testing?"

"Well…aren't you a bit out of practice. Isn't chasing baddies and shooting at people more your-" he waved his empty hand, "thing,"

"I'll do just fine thank you,"

"I didn't mean any offense,"

"Uh-huh," she would have folded her arms over her chest if not for the evidence she was currently holding. She made do with tapping her foot impatiently on the floor instead.

"But you know what you say. You don't use it, you lose it,"

"Uh-huh," somethings never changed, Fargo could still dig himself into a hole if you left him long enough.

"And well…you've not been using-"

Oh for goodness sakes.

"Lab, Fargo!"

* * *

 **Tada!**

 **Two updates in two days. So proud!**

 **I hope you are all having a good weekend and are keeping safe.**

 **So here we have how Tim knows Nathan and Fargo. Our Tim is a clever little cookie. :)**

 **Hopefully I** **'ll see you soon with the next update.**

 **Take care**

 **x**


	6. Chapter 6

**McEureka - Part 6**

Fargo had hovered over her for the first hour or so of her tests. Quizzing her uses of every piece of machinery and the contents of every pipette she squeezed. Honestly, she felt like she was back at school by the time he had finally satisfied himself that she knew what she was doing and she hadn't quite lost her touch.

To say her nerves had been a little frayed by the time he had stepped back would be an understatement. But working with Tony DiNozzo had heightened her tolerance to human irritants and she knew he was just wanting to make sure she didn't blow the building up.

She blocked his presence entirely once had had stopped leaning over her and had returned to pouring over his tablet in search of his allusive phone privileges.

With the various reports from the researchers spread out in front of her she compared her results with the countless graphs and tables provided.

She tested the glue.

The device.

The crystal substance.

All the tests matched with the results.

"Far-" she turned around to find Fargo hitting his tablet violently with his index fingers, "-go?"

He looked up. Eyes wide. Caught.

"What on earth are you doing?" she removed the goggles she had donned while running the more…fizzy tests. There was nothing wrong with the device. Nothing…at…all...

Wait a minute.

Her thoughts froze, and she was only slightly aware of Fargo's reply about traitor technology and his whole life being a lie. Drama queen.

There was nothing wrong with the device.

Nothing at all.

And that wasn't right at all.

"Fargo, where are the used devices?"

* * *

The stood looking into the incinerator.

Really?

"Um…looks like the rota moved forward a day," Fargo mumbled to her.

Really!

Tim sighed and went to rub a hand over her tired eyes before she stopped herself. She was still carrying around the device. Damn chain of evidence.

"Ok, we can fix this," she muttered turning away from the evidence destroying incinerator.

First things first. She needed to have a word with Gibbs.

* * *

She found her boss and the others in the staff canteen and as a small show of rebellion and annoyance for not being told it was lunch time she joined the cue and made her way to the till with a sandwich and the strongest, sweetest, vanilla filled coffee she could find - thank goodness Eureka recognized the important of caffeine and the yummies that could be mixed with it.

"Hey there," she greeted the man at the till as she placed her items on the small ledge and fished about in her pockets for money.

"Don't worry about it Agent McGee, its been taken care of,"

She was surprised at his knowing her name until she remember the visitors identification badge she was wearing.

"Oh, um, thanks," she smiled, "Have a nice day," she retrieved her sandwich and coffee - taking a sip, hmm nectar of the gods - and made her way to the table where Tony was stuffing the last of a burger into his mouth much to Ziva's disgust.

"Um, thanks for lunch Boss," she chimed, slipping into the empty chair and beginning to unwrap her food.

"Don't know what you're talking about, McGee,"

She looked up from what felt like a military operation to get into her sandwich. She could get into Fort Knox quicker.

Gibbs was frowning at her as he raised his coffee to his lips.

"But…But didn't you-"

"What you got, McGee?" he interrupted her.

Alright then.

She took a quick bite of her liberated chicken and mayonnaise sandwich and sighed happily. Yip. Scientists 'scienced' on their stomach alright. Maybe she could have a chat with the kitchen staff and get a few pointers because nothing she tried at home ever tasted this good.

A throat cleared.

Oh yeah.

"There was nothing wrong with the device,"

"Well, I am sure our dead marine would be very glad to hear that," Gibbs replied dryly.

"No boss, you don't get it. That is the problem. There was nothing wrong with it," she smiled in victory, taking a sip of her coffee. She just couldn't stop smiling.

"So the problem is that there is no problem," Tony spoke around the food he was still chewing.

Yuck.

Ziva rolled her eyes and nodded at her in silent support to continue.

"Yes. That device was perfect,"

"Perfect?" Gibbs quirked a brow.

Tim would be lying if she said she wasn't enjoying knowing something he didn't for once, but she knew to not draw it out to long.

"Boss, that things had never been used,"

She took another bite of her food and chewed slowly while her comment sunk in.

"McGee, are you saying it was a substitution?" Ziva asked her,

"What I am saying is that there is no sign of that device ever being worn. The glue on the back showed no sign of skin cells as would be expected,"

"Maybe it fell off. Maybe thats why it didn't work," Tony had finally stopped chewing.

"No, there would have been some sort of evidence of wear, there was no DNA from our dead marine on that device," she sat back and smiled, "Fargo is going to get me the security feeds for the furnace and the testing area,"

"Furnace?" Ziva asked.

"Yeah, the burning rota moved forward a day. Quite a coincidence don't you think,"

"Good work, McGee," Gibbs had that rare small smile on his face.

It freaked her out a little.

"Umm…thanks boss," she leaned back into the table and picked up her coffee, "How did the questioning go?"

"Intelligent people give Tony a headache," Ziva told her, smiling at Tony's expense.

"Seriously, even the dinner lady could tell me the chemical compounds that made up the salad cream," Tony grumbled, "Who does that?"

Tim shrugged.

"You're in Eureka, Tony," she told him with a shrug, "Everyone has a specialty, the 'dinner lady' probably had several PHDs…Chemistry I would think…" she nodded in silent agreement with herself.

"This place is just weird," Tony muttered, looking around him like he expected a mad scientist to jump out and drag him away to conduct experiments.

* * *

 **Hi everyone.**

 **So it looks like this winter is going to turn into another very wet one where I live. Too near the sea for a good snowfall. Although it does happen occasionally. Don** **'t see it happening soon though :(**

 **Anyway, I hope you are all having a good week and taking care of yourselves.**

 **Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback and for you patience with these pretty sporadic updates :)**

 **Take care**

 **:)**


	7. Chapter 7

**McEureka - Part 7**

"The security logs-" Fargo buried his face in his tablet, the rest of his world coming out in a mumble.

Honestly, she was tempted just to take the tablet from him and sort out his phone privileges herself. It was so simple.

"What was that, Fargo?" she asked, more than aware of Gibbs at her side, glaring at the scientist.

"The security logs were-" again his face was put mere inches from the tablet screen, his words nothing but an unintelligible garble.

Oh for goodness sake.

She glanced to Gibbs. Her boss looked like he was more than ready to take the tablet from him and hit him over the head with it. That wouldn't do. It didn't exactly fit into the spirit of cooperation.

"Fargo!"

He looked up at her in shock at her sharpness.

"Mumbling the facts will not make them go away. Man up!"

He looked nervously between her and Gibbs, his eyes wide as he visibly gulped.

"The security logs have been tampered with," he sighed in irritation and obvious embarrassment.

Tim looked to the roof and closed her eyes for a second.

They were in a building full of the smartest minds on the planet and with the highest grade security systems in existence. Of course the damn things had been tampered with.

* * *

No security footage and no old devices to check against. No devices at all at the moment apart from the nice shiny one in their possession.

Just wonderful.

"Come on McGee, these are your people. Now what do we do?"

The team had gathered in the empty lab she had commandeered, the door shut and the top notch security system tampered with (by her on Gibb's orders) to avoid being overheard. The man was paranoid to the nth degree. But she would admit there may be a good cause for it on this occasion.

Her 'people'? What was she the Scientist Whisperer or something?

She looked about the lab in search of inspiration and sighed.

"Maybe I could have a chat with the marines, boss, just one on one, see if anything flags up…"

Much to her surprise Gibbs agreed.

* * *

"So, you're one of them, huh?" Tim looked to the marine, his posture had gone from ram-rod straight in Gibb's presence to slouched and slovenly. She felt the urge channel her inner Gibbs (Tony, Ziva and her all had one) and bark at him to sit up straight.

"One of who?" she asked patiently.

It had been a long few days for the marines involved in the testing with the death of a comrade and then being stuck in the ongoing-investigation-hell. She could forgive him for being a little…out of sorts. Besides, she should be used to it by now. Navy personnel fell into two camps when it came to NCIS. The respecting kind and the 'I wouldn't spit on you if you were on fire' kind. She could deal with a bit of attitude.

The marine gestured to the paperwork spread out in front of her, diagrams, pictures and tables with her hand written notes scribbles in the margins filled her side of the table.

"The brain brigade," he snorted.

Ah. Now she knew what kind he was and it was nothing to do with NCIS. Well, at least not on the whole. He was the jock who shoved the smaller kids into lockers.

There was always one.

She smiled at him, keeping her breathing even and her jaw relaxed. She would not clench her teeth.

"I am NCIS Agent McGee," she told him, her frosty tone in stark contrast to her smile.

Some little ball of self preservation flashed to life in the marine in front of her and he unconsciously straightened in his chair.

She knew he knew fine well who she was. Had he expected her to flounder about and shrink away from him.

Hah. Not likely. Maybe when she had first started on Gibbs team, but not know. She had helped take down people who could chew this guy up and spit him out once they were done.

"Yes Ma'am,"

She nodded her head in satisfaction and began to ask the questions.

* * *

"Well?"

Tim looked up from the table, the last marine had just left, and Gibbs had not waited two minutes before entering the room.

She had questioned each of them thoroughly on the use of the device. The hitches to the uses. What the device looked like on first being attached and then being taken off.

Nothing made sense.

Why would the drowned man, who according to everyone present had definitely been wearing a device, have been found with one that hadn't even been attached to his body?

Unless.

She stood up and recovered the device from the other side of the table.

Gibbs remained quiet.

The one thing she had not tested was the forcefield.

She rooted about in a cupboard until she found a charge box, attached wires and found a sheet to pass the charge through.

"McGee, what-" Gibbs began.

"Just a thought boss," she mumbled

She gently turned the dial to the required charge to activate the device and once the sheet was alive with it she gently placed it onto the sheet. For a moment nothing happened and then within the blink of an eye a thin layer of shimmering blue zapped into existence covering the sheet and then spreading up the wire until it encompassed the charge box.

It was perfect.

Damn it all.

She unhooked everything, methodically replacing all the items she had used.

Someone had to have tampered with the devices. Replacing this perfectly functioning one with the one that the Marine had been wearing. They just hadn't thought on it being noticed that it had never been worn, obliterating all chances that there might have been a malfunction. It would have to have been in use for there to be a malfunction after all. And then they had destroyed all the evidence in the furnace and messed with the security footage.

"McGee?" Gibbs' growl brought her back to herself.

"I'm sorry boss, I just don't know. I am sure that this-" she pointed at the cylinder that she had removed with surprising ease from the charged sheet.

She froze and looked at it carefully.

No. It couldn't be, could it.

She grabbed for the device she had placed on the table and swept it up.

She turned it to different angles in her hand and studied the glue filaments in the light, next she shoved it beneath the high-powered microscope that had been placed at her 'disposal' and squinted down at it through the eye piece.

"Look," she spun on Gibbs, all but shoving the device into his face.

"I don't see anything, McGee," he told her squinting at the item, less than impressed.

"Exactly!"

"I thought you had already told us there was nothing to see,"

"There is nothing to see," she told him, smiling just as broadly as she had when she had first explained her findings, "But I thought that was because this hadn't been used. But what if it had and it just hadn't been attached to his body,"

"McGee," Gibbs barked irritably.

"There is no sign of use when the device is placed on a metal surface, what if that was how it was worn by our Marine. It would explain the lack of skin cells. There would be no skin to stick. What if it was attached to something he was wearing, something with a charge passing through it. He goes into the water. And then the charge is turned off. Suddenly you go from being able to breath to having lungs full of water,"

"Attached to what McGee? How big are we talking?" Gibbs questioned.

Tim looked at the device. It was all a matter of…could it work…it might do.

"Dog tags. I need to see his dog tags!"

* * *

 **Hi everyone.**

 **I hope you are all keeping well and have a good weekend when it arrives or if it has arrived already for you I hope it is going well :) - it is Saturday tomorrow for me. Woohoo. Spanners just seem to keep popping into the cogs of my life at the moment so to finally have a Saturday with no spanners (fingers crossed) I am going to take full advantage of it. Starting with a nice sleep in. Who wants to bet the postman will be knocking on the door at 8 am? ;)**

 **Anyhoo. As per usual all the sciency stuff is entirely made up garbage - but hey, it sounds good though doesn** **'t it ;)**

 **Nathan Stark will make an appearance in the next chapter. I haven** **'t forgotten about him, just haven't had the time to fit in a wee tete a tete between our girl and Dr Tall Dark and Brainy. But do not fear. It is coming :)**

 **Take care everyone.**

 **x**


	8. Chapter 8

**McEureka - Part 8**

Tim studied the thin disks of metal under the microscope one at a time. Gibbs had even procured the dog tags from the other marines for her to look over. They showed the general wear and tear from being worn almost constantly, and the scratches were to be expected. Apart from the small - almost unnoticeable really - marks on the tags belonging to the dead man. These weren't just scratches, they were tiny dents on either side of the metal, as though something had been gripping onto the metal. Tiny teeth.

Like something to charge the metal…

She rolled away from the microscope and began to carefully bag all the dog tags, tearing away the protective strips from the bags to bend over the flaps and stick them down.

So she knew how they had done it.

Somehow they convinced the marine to allow the device to be attached to the tags, and a charge passed through the tags. And then they had somehow remotely switched off the charge when he had no chance of getting back to the surface…or maybe they had been communicating with him somehow and told him to take a deep breath just as they flicked the switch.

Tim shivered. Unable to think of anything worse than her lungs filling with chocking water. Trying to cough but unable to draw breath. Just more of the liquid to draw in.

She shivered. A horrible way to go.

But who had done it? One of the marines? According to their own statements they had no idea how the devices _really_ worked, just that they did when attached to their bodies.

"Hello Tim,"

Tim froze in her thinking and blinked to clear her mind. During the investigation she had been too busy to think about the presence of a certain doctor. She had almost forgotten completely that there was an office with his name on it somewhere in this very building. Several floors above her probable.

She turned slowly in the chair, her heart thudding violently in her chest.

He was as handsome as ever. He always had a twinkle in his eyes and it was still there. He was tall. His shoulders broad and his frame slim.

"Hello Nathan," she breathed, stuck to her chair, but she didn't have to move, he was the one who came to her.

He just looked down at her, all dark hair and glimmering eyes, his lips stretched into a soft smile and she felt her insides begin to liquefy, just as they used to do. She knew that if she had been standing her legs would have had all the strength of a cooked noodle.

She planted her feet on the floor and pushed back, rolling the chair away from him until the back of it collided with the desk with a deafening thud. She winced slightly but Nathan showed no reaction. He just continued to look at her. His gaze following her every movement.

"NCIS," he finally spoke, "You made it,"

Tim nodded, at a loss for how to react, how to speak to him, she had thought she would never see him again.

"A lot quicker than you thought, and onto the number one team. I feel there is a story there,"

She couldn't stand craning her neck to look up at him anymore and decided to risk the jelly legs. She swiveled to the side and stood.

She tested her legs. They were surprisingly firm beneath her.

"Oh, you know…people died. Place and time just happened to be in my favor,"

Tim groaned inwardly as she began to fuss with the bagged dog tags.

'People died'. Really Tim!

"Ah, the stars were aligned, were they?" Nathan chuckled.

"Something like that," she mumbled.

How many times could she put the same bags into a pile and move them around. She would go for a record.

"Are you happy, Tim?"

The question caught her by surprise and she turned, the bags forgotten. And she regretted it the moment she did. He had moved closer to her while she had her back to him. Too close.

"Yes," she nearly whispered, "Yes, I'm happy," she talked to his tie, keeping her eyes fixed on the material.

"And you Nathan, are you happy?" she looked up now.

"I've missed you, Tim,"

Tim closed her eyes against the light in his. No. Not again.

"Nathan, we have been over this, years ago," she slid along the table to free herself from the closeness of him and walked around the other side. There. A whole table between them. That was more like it.

"I was not going to be a rebound relationship," she told him, proud pf her steady voice but annoyed of revisiting old hurts. She could do this. She could keep her calm in the face of the man who had stolen her heart, "You were still married," she added. That had been the clincher, right there, "She had just left. There was every chance you could have still made a go of your relationship," And that had been the other reason. She would never be the cause of a marriage on the rocks finally going under. She couldn't do that. And because of that they had never really became anything to each other. She had not let it.

"Alison and I were done long before we separated," he told her, stepping around the table with each word, "There would have been no rekindling with or without your presence," he made it to her side of the table and then behind her, she tried to ignore his presence at her back. Was she fooling herself by thinking that she could feel the heat of him though her own clothes. She probably was…but she could swear she could.

"You have no idea how happy you made me, Tim,"

She scoffed at this, remembering what she had been like back then.

"Happy? I was an overactive intern who was desperate to please," she told him sternly, describing just how she had seen herself when she had been placed with him – the great Doctor Stark – to try and convince her to join the programme in Eureka.

"You were adorable," he smiled softly.

Overeager and overweight was more like it. She had never been described as adorable in her like. She was certain of it.

"Step away from my agent, Dr Stark," the heat – imagine or not – vanished from her back as Gibbs' voice cut through the room and her eyes shot to the entrance.

There was Gibbs. A face like thunder. How long had he been standing there for? Tim gulped. He looked like he was ready to draw his gun on someone. And that someone was Nathan Stark.

Tim flushed with embarrassment, trying to remember any odd noises that could have been her boss arriving on the scene, but she had been so caught up with Nathan she couldn't recall anything else.

"McGee,"

"Yes boss," she chirped, feeling the brush of Nathan's body against her own as she slid past him and walked to Gibbs, heart hammering in her chest.

"Tony and Ziva need some help with translating the local language,"

"Local language?" what did he – Oh. She couldn't stop the giggle.

"I'll see to it, boss,"

She left the room without looking back, back straight, pace steady.

" _You have no idea how happy you made me Tim,"_

* * *

"Agent Gibbs," the man nodded and went to leave the room, unable to control himself Gibbs grasped the man's arm, halting his progress.

"You will stop harassing my agents, Dr Stark," a flare of protective fury swept through Gibbs. Quite alien were McGee was concerned - Ziva and DiNozzo being the two who tended to get into trouble - so when he entered the room he had not expected to over hear what he had.

The man had the nerve to smirk and forcefully removed his hand from his arm – surprisingly strong for a scientist.

"I assure you, Agent Gibbs, I have no intention of harassing your agents," Gibbs felt his anger – never far from the surface when it came to defending his team – begin to boil, "Tim and I are old friends,"

Old friends? From what he had over heard Gibbs was sure they would have been more than that if this Doctor Stark had got his way.

But Tim was a good girl in the oldest sense of the word, something that often concerned Gibbs when it came to her ability to do her job. But she had a spine of iron that tended to balance her out. And it seemed it had balanced her right away from Stark and Eureka once upon a time.

The man smiled a smile that spoke volumes. He knew something Gibbs did not and Gibbs did not like being kept in the dark where it concerned his team.

"You truly have no idea how fortunate you are to have that young woman working for you, Agent Gibbs,"

"I am more than aware, Dr Stark, and I will not repeat myself. You will leave my agent alone,"

"Surely Agent Gibbs, what Tim gets up to in her personal time is no business of yours…" he smiled and left the room.

Gibbs glowered at this retreating back.

 **Hi everyone,**

 **I hope you all had a happy and safe holiday season. :) I was hoping to get this out to you earlier than now but the plot bunnies just weren** **'t cooperating. I think I have got them hopping in sync once again though….I think…**

 **Anyhoo. A wee bit of Tim's past with Nathan has now come to light. Dun dun duuuuun.**

 **Please let me know what you think. Your comments and feedback are always so encouraging. :)**

 **Take care x**


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